Plagiarism

Is It Plagiarism Yet?

There are some actions that can almost unquestionably be labeled plagiarism. Some of these include buying, stealing, or borrowing a paper (including, of course, copying an entire paper or article from the Web); hiring someone to write your paper for
you; and copying large sections of text from a source without quotation marks or proper citation.

But then there are actions that are usually in more of a gray area.
Some of these include using the words of a source too closely when
paraphrasing (where quotation marks should have been used) or building on
someone's ideas without citing their spoken or written work. Sometimes
teachers suspecting students of plagiarism will consider the students'
intent, and whether it appeared the student was deliberately trying to
make ideas of others appear to be his or her own.

However, other teachers and administrators may not distinguish between
deliberate and accidental plagiarism. So let's look at some strategies for
avoiding even suspicion of plagiarism in the first place

When Do We Give Credit?

The key to avoiding plagiarism is to make sure you give credit where it
is due. This may be credit for something somebody said, wrote, emailed,
drew, or implied. Many professional organizations, including the Modern
Language Association and the American Psychological Association, have
lengthy guidelines for citing sources. However, students are often so busy
trying to learn the rules of MLA format and style or APA format and style
that they sometimes forget exactly what needs to be credited. Here, then,
is a brief list of what needs to be credited or
documented:

Information you gain through interviewing or conversing with another
person, face to face, over the phone, or in writing

When you copy the exact words or a unique phrase

When you reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts, pictures, or
other visual materials

When you reuse or repost any electronically-available media, including
images, audio, video, or other media

Bottom line, document any words, ideas, or other productions that
originate somewhere outside of you.

There are, of course, certain things that do not need documentation or
credit, including:

Writing your own lived experiences, your own observations and
insights, your own thoughts, and your own conclusions about a
subject

When you are writing up your own results obtained through lab or field
experiments

When you use your own artwork, digital photographs, video, audio,
etc.

When you are using "common knowledge," things like folklore, common
sense observations, myths, urban legends, and historical events (but
not historical documents)

When you are using generally-accepted facts, e.g., pollution is bad
for the environment, including facts that are accepted within particular
discourse communities, e.g., in the field of composition studies, "writing
is a process" is a generally-accepted fact.

Deciding if Something is Common Knowledge

Generally speaking, you can regard something as common knowledge if you
find the same information undocumented in at least five credible sources.
Additionally, it might be common knowledge if you think the information
you're presenting is something your readers will already know, or
something that a person could easily find in general reference sources.
But when in doubt, cite; if the citation turns out to be unnecessary, your
teacher or editor will tell you.